A?wonderful night: Fred and Beverly Wilks at their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend.

IT was a celebration of golden proportions as about 80 family and friends came together last Saturday (May 3) at the Airport Tavern to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Taree couple, Beverly and Fred Wilks.

"We'd like to thank our family for the great effort to put this night together," said Beverly.

"We all had a wonderful night. The catering was excellent and the room looked fabulous."

"The nieces and nephews had a ball it was a great reunion. It was so lovely to see so many treasured friends and relatives enjoying themselves."

Beverly and Fred first got together at a dance at Mondrook.

Taree-born Beverly Moscatt and two of her friends had taken up the offer of a free taxi for girls who wanted to go and while at the dance she saw Fred, from Hillville, who was a friend of her brothers.

She knew he was a beautiful dancer and they ended up dancing the night away together.

"During the night he told me that if I couldn't get a lift with anyone else then he would take me home ... I didn't ask anyone else".

The relationship blossomed (Fred even taught her how to drive) and they eventually decided they wanted to marry.

"Dad wouldn't let me until I was 21 or had a house."

So, in a demonstration of his love for her, Fred travelled to New Guinea for 12 months so he could save money to buy a house.

On his return they bought a home in Edinburgh Drive, where they stayed for the next 25 years.

Once they had the house they started planning the wedding for the October of 1964.

However, when Beverly's mother became very sick, they moved the ceremony forward to May.

Married on May 2, the bride was two months off turning 20 and the groom just shy of 24.

Sadly, Beverly's mother passed away in the October of the same year.

The couple had two daughters, Sharon and Michelle, and the family was quite involved in a number of community organisations.

"Sharon and Michelle were in athletics, Brownies, Girl Guides and hockey and we did volunteer work for each club," said Beverly.

Work-wise, Fred had grown up on a farm before working in bulldozing then log trucking, gravel trucks and driving school buses.

Since retiring 11-and-a-half years ago he has been a volunteer bus driver.

Most of his outings are with Storm Village and Bishop Tyrell Place and can include a morning or afternoon drive or out all day somewhere for lunch.

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Beverly goes along as a volunteer.

"We even take them to concerts. The residents love a day out."

Beverly and Fred have enjoyed caravanning for the past 22 years, travelling around Australia and Tasmania. They have also done a tour of New Zealand.

"We are marking roads off our map."

They have two grandchildren, Samuel, nearly 14, and Zoe, aged 10.

"Mum and Dad are finding out what it is like taking your children here, there and everywhere".

When it comes to hobbies, Fred is a keen fisherman while Beverly enjoys spending time tending to her home.

Speaking of homes, after leaving their home in Edinburgh Drive they moved to Iluka Circuit, where they stayed for 13 years until downsizing to Wootton Crescent, where they intended to stay for two years, but have remained for the past 11-and-a-half years.